"Canstruction" in the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center

                                               

Paper towel rolls, cotton balls and milk cartons—your kids have used them all to create mini masterpieces. But we’re fairly certain they’ve never turned such mundane objects into anything as impressive as the art now on display at the annual "Canstruction" exhibition. These sculptures are not your average macaroni art (though a giant boxing glove does rest on a ring made of pasta boxes). Rather, they are large-scale works composed entirely of canned goods and other nonperishables by architectural and engineering firms from around the city.

Local families should enjoy the New York–themed pieces, including A Light at the End of the CANarsie Tunnel, a portrait of Henry Hudson and the impressive Big Apple CANsportation, an apple-shaped skyscraper with a subway train traveling through the fruit’s core. Our favorites were structures inspired by classic kid-lit, including Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a trio of whimsical Alice in Wonderland–influenced mushrooms, fashioned from cans of sardines and, you guessed it, mushrooms.

The exhibition isn’t just fun, it’s also for a good cause. All of the foods used will be donated to City Harvest in time for Thanksgiving. Signs indicate how many cans are in each work of art and how many people will benefit from them. The Canny Island boardwalk, complete with Wonder Wheel and Cyclone, will feed a whopping 4,194 hungry New Yorkers.

While admission is free, visitors are encouraged to drop off canned goods. It might be wise to donate all the cans in your cabinet: After seeing these works, your tots will undoubtedly come home with some overly ambitious ideas for their next art project.—Blair Tidwell

"Canstruction" is on view in the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center through Nov 23. Free.

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